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Better Health D
GUT TROUBLES: a look at common digestive tract disorders, D2 SPRING ALLERGIES: woes and treatments, D3 WOMENS SHOES: a podiatrist weighs in on shoe concerns, D4
| SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2019
|
Ever utter the phrase,
“Oh, my
poor feet ... they are
killing me.”
By Anne-Gerard Flynn
structure issue there is a lot I can do surgically.” If so, you are not alone. Surgery can help straighten Surveys have shown that 77 a hammer toe and there is percent of Americans have a small implant that can be experienced foot pain. thread into a joint just below Surveys have shown as well the ankle joint to help give that nearly one quarter of someone with a flat foot issue that is bothersome more of Americans spend six hours or an arch without extensive more standing on their feet surgery. daily. April serves as Foot Health Peteros said, “The No. 1 Awareness Month, and a condition people come to see good reminder to assess any me most often for is plantar ailments of these body parts fasciitis, which is kind of synon which we are estimated onymous with heel pain.” to walk 115,000 miles in our “It can be in the arch as lifetime, the equivalent of well but mostly in the heel,” about four times around the Peteros said. world. “People experience pain Many Americans do not first thing in the morning seek a diagnosis for their when they step out of bed or foot ailments, relying on later in the day when they have been on their feet all the self-treatments with varying time and there is a strain on a degrees of satisfaction, but structure called the fascia on there are doctors – podiatrists the bottom of the foot.” – who specialize in treating a What kind of footwear is Peteros said, “There are a range of conditions affecting suitable? number of things for plantar the foot, ankle and structures “Stiffer is better, especially fasciitis.” of the leg with medical as well when it comes to sneakers. A “We will use anti-inflamas surgical therapies. lot of these new ones are what Foot issues are often assomatories when appropriate I call fashion footwear and ciated with aging and certain fashion sportswear. Flimsy, as certain people can’t take chronic diseases, but Dr. them. Cortisone injection flexible,” Peteros said. when appropriate. I don’t like Christopher Peteros’ patient “If you can bend them right to do this right away but it can population has ranged in age in half at the arch level, the be done,” Peteros said. from children to adults into shoe is not good support. “We can custom-make their 90s during his more Stiffer shoes throughout the orthotics from a digital image than 25 years in practice. arch support are a better bet.” Asked about common of the foot, much like a denHe added, “Flip-flops are complaints such as bunions, tist does from the crown of a fine for the purpose they were - Dr. Christopher Peteros calluses, ingrown toenails tooth, if the over-the-counter intended - sitting around the and warts he quickly says he supports aren’t working, and pool, at the beach, on the back sees “all of them every day.” “Going to the grocery store bent toe, makes it rub into the and by the time you have got- we can do shock wave therapy deck having a drink.” Asked what is the most shoe and you get the corn,” ten it down to where you want which is really sound waves “There are sandals that are for an hour or two is not a common way Americans and done with the same type good idea.” Peteros said. it to be you have irritated the fine. Birkenstocks, some of abuse their feet, the Longof machine that breaks up Peteros listed corns and “On the bottom of the foot skin enough that it will build the European-, German-type meadow-based podiatrist’s calluses, considered signs it is usually from a prominent the skin back up faster so you kidney stones with sound sandals have good arches few-word answer is “with waves. We put the machine bone called the metatarsal are chasing your tail.” built into them. You can wear of the body trying to protect up against the heel and that is improper footwear.” sensitive skin areas, as among head or from lack of a fat pad. “If I shave it with a sterile sandals, they just have to be “This is the probable No. 1 very successful in people who the most frequent conditions A lot of the elderly lose that surgical blade,” Peteros said, more supportive,” Peteros way or no shoe-wear, walking said. have had very difficult cases. he sees daily. fat pad on the bottom of the “the skin does not know I It is a great option to surgery barefoot constantly. The foot He termed them a “result of foot and the bones become did anything to it and it stays “I tell my patients that they and, finally, we can operate if is just not made for it,” said direct pressure or excessive more prominent and there is gone awhile, but it comes think they are comfortable we have to.” Peteros whose practice, New pressure on the skin.” not a natural cushion between back unless the pressure is wearing a flip-flop, but your England Foot Specialists, in“So, wherever there is the skin and the bone and relieved.” foot is really working hard to keep it on. Toes are grabbing a pressure point, you can the skin senses it and builds He adds, “If you have a foot SEE FEET, PAGE D3 cludes associate Dr. Cynthia Special to The Republican
Galavotti. “The foot,” he adds, “needs support.” “We don’t have hoofs, and we all have different foot structures. We see people with high arches, people with low arches,” said Peteros, a graduate of Dr. William M. Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine at Chicago’s Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science who did his residency at Cambridge Hospital, part of a Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate. “So, if you have an arch that is not particularly strong, walking around barefoot constantly or in flip-flops puts a lot of stress on the foot. One of the most common afflictions people get is plantar fasciitis, heel pain, arch pain.”
and scrunching, your heel is sliding back- and-forth so you are actually doing work.” Peteros said “very high heels push the foot forward, jam the toes and really the foot does not operate normally.” “Normally, when the foot hits the ground to walk it goes heel to toe,” Peteros said. “It goes from a motion we call pronation, which is a normal motion, and high heels take that away. You are kind of marching in a high heel.” He said a heel “an inch- to an inch-and-a-half “is “probably not a big deal if it is not a chronic thing.” “You are wearing them to go out to dinner. Perfectly fine for what it is built,” Peteros said.
build up a callus and more accurately wherever there is a callus there is a pressure point. It has to be. It would not exist if there was no pressure,” said Peteros of calluses often found on the bottom of the foot and corns “like a little rock” on the side or top of a toe. “What happens either in a shoe on the side or top of the toe, or on the bottom of the foot, excessive pressure builds up, the skin senses it, builds up extra skin to protect itself and does not know when to stop so it keeps going,” Peteros said. Pressure points, Peteros added, are often caused by a foot’s structure and not that of the shoe. “A hammer toe, which is a
something thicker.” Pressure points can be addressed with surgery as well as with other options as a short-term fix. “A shoe with a little bit of cushioning helps, and certainly orthotic supports can be made specifically to fit the shoe,” Peteros said. Podiatrists can also shave calluses to help reduce the time it takes them to return. “Find a podiatrist who will shave it down with a sterile blade,” said Peteros when asked about home remedies for a callus. “People cut themselves doing this, they get infected, and there are not a lot of products out there. You are going to rub a callus a long time to get it down with a pumice stone
“So, if you have an arch that is not particularly strong, walking around barefoot constantly or in flip-flops puts a lot of stress on the foot. One of the most common afflictions people get is plantar fasciitis, heel pain, arch pain.”